Black Roses
by Miss-Clockworks
Summary: And so time waited for the inevitable pain that would bring them together...until time could wait no more.


**_Black Roses_**

_And so time waits for the inevitable pain that will bring them together_

Chapter 1: Funeral 

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Blood coated her like a second skin, and the stench of devastation filled her nostrils. She cried out in pain as the miasma burned her lungs. There was just too much of it, and her reiki was suffocating._It had been too easy. We should have known! _ Pain racked her chest, but she clenched her fists in resistance, swallowing tears that would be wasted on the dead. _Dead.._

Oh gods, what had happened to her happy ending?

Looking to her left, she saw a charred bundle wrapped in once-white silk and burning petals being swept up by the wind. "My...bouquet..."

Bruised fingers grasped in vain for the cinders that had once been a dozen white roses. Hot tears streaked down her cheeks. She smiled ruefully. "I never got to...throw...it. I wanted...Ayame to be...next. Kouga's face..." Her laugh was hollow. With a final lurch, she heaved her battered form close enough to the withering bouquet to clutch it in her hands. Upon closer inspection, she saw that all of the roses had been burned completely black except for a single white rose in the center.

Her heart shattered.

"The other ones... protected the middle rose. They died white it survived. The white rose must be so sad...all of it's friends..."All of them were gone. All of them were dead except...So she was the white rose huh? How cruel. How ugly it was to be a white rose in a bouquet of black roses...

With grim resolve, the young woman gathered the roses to her chest, and standing on shaky legs, she made her way to a large burning mass.

"No...the Sacred Tree...first the well and now..."Her last connection home. Gone.

If it was possible her shoulders slumped even further at the sight. Her eyes found the patch of gnarled bark that was once singed by the arrow of a heartbroken miko. An instant later it was swallowed by flames, ignorant of its importance.

"Mama...Souta...Gramps...I'm sorry. Please know that I...I'm sorry." She sobbed.

Her tear-streaked, swollen face was lit by the hungry flames as she brought the bouquet close to her kissed every single black rose and, removing the white one, threw the bouquet into the bonfire that was the Goshiboku. "Goodnight my dearest friends. May your souls travel home safely."Just then a single black rose that had fallen from the bundle caught her eye. She couldn't hold back the sobs this time."Oh Inuyasha!...You were never good with goodbyes were you?" She smiled through the tears, trying her best to stop them. He never liked it when she cried. With that memory in mind, her mind faded to more innocent days.

_Inuyasha's eyes widened in fear; he waved frantically in front of her face, as if to stop the droplets of water from escaping. "S-S-Stop cryin' okay? Look 'Gome whatever I did I'm sorry! Is that what you want to hear? Keh. Dammit, wench, you know I hate the smell of tears! Stop bawlin' alredy will ya!" _

_ Kagome chuckled. "They're not sad tears Inu, I'm crying because I'm happy! And you make poor Shippo cry all the time you jerk!" She punched his arm playfully._

_ He blushed, looking anywhere but at her face. "Keh! Well...I...I just don't like your tears alright? And who cries when they're happy anyway? Hmph! Women!" But he couldn't hide his smirk as she leaned amorously into his embrace. "Love you too, Inu." _

She laughed, truly laughed this time, but her mirth soon turned to gut-wrenching sorrow. Her face contorted in pain. "Inuyasha!"Burning branches fell like rain around her, and miasma burned her skin. She didn't even crumpled to the ground, screaming at the red sky. "Just when we could finally be together...you...everyone...WHY? Why did this happen to us? We were so happy! I was finally able to love you completely, and you loved me back! You finally saw me! You wanted ME! We were going to be together forever! WHY?" She shook the rose harder with every word as her body trembled with anguish. A single thorn pierced her skin, surprising her. She dropped the rose, still weeping uncontrollably and screaming down at the black flower. Her angry tears left stains in the dry earth.

"I never got the chance to _really_ love you! We never-!" She choked on tears as she bent down to take hold of the solitary black rose once again. The sky cracked with thunder and the first signs of rain sizzled against her burning skin. A droplet fell on the rose, and trickled down a petal like a single her face with the remnants of a stunning white wedding kimono, she crawled to the burning Goshinboku. Her almond irises turned golden from the flames...like his eyes.

"Don't worry Inuyasha, I won't break my promise. I'll _always_ be by your side. For better of for worse, together even in death, I thee wed." She whispered lovingly. After caressing the black rose to her cheek she threw it into the flames.

"Goodnight, my love. Wait for me?"

She could feel her whimpering heartbeat in her ears, and the slowing flutter of her lungs. It was like a calming rhythm, and the other sounds all around her became a muffled din; a faint echo in her subconscious.

"Yes. I know." She told her body. "Just a few seconds more."

Reaching into the wound in her abdomen, the dying priestess fingered a small pearl. Swallowing the bile that bubbled in the back of her throat, she pulled it from her stomach with a sharp smirked. "Such a clever idea Miroku...for me to swallow it again. He'd never look there. But this must end with me. I will not curse another to this fate. As long...as it lives...there will be bloodshed...for eternity." Huffing with exertion she clenched the Shikon Jewel in her scarred palm.

Gathering the last of her reiki around her, the miko spoke with finality.

_"End the vicious circle, and with these flames, the old shall be burned and let new life grow green once_

_ more from the ashes. Let the battle of time finally end, and with it, let balance be brought once again to this world."_

A single flash of light, a sound that resembled a tired sigh, and the jewel was no more.

With a groan the Miko no Shikon collapsed under the weight of her dying body,the single white rose still in her other hand. Reaching over to a small patch of flame nearby, she singed the white rose an inky, charred black. Petals fell to young woman closed her eyes and turned to face the sky. With a graceful slowness, she tucked the rose into the disheveled hair, still somewhat heavy with pins and ornaments. She opened her eyes, and looking into a small puddle that had formed from the steady rainfall, she admired her murky looked like a ghost, a passing shadow come to visit the land of the living.

Her tears had long since dried upon her skin, her face now pale and her lips were chapped and blue.

"Not quite the blushing bride...am I?"

Black petals danced by her face in the restless wind."Black Roses...how fitting for a funeral." She murmured.

She laid herself down and closed her eyes for the last time, a single tear escaping with her last shuddering breath.

"Inuyasha...Let's go home."

And it was there, in that desolate field laden with the ashes of her friends and enemies, and in soil watered by her tears, that Kagome Higurashi died.

The sky mourned, and the earth turned to dust.

_Who knew our love would be called a memory?_

_I guess life is no fair._

_Love gone...gone with the wind._

_Can't erase the pain...because I still feel your heartbeat, a million miles away._

_Black Roses...for this dying love._

_ Just for you and I. _

A/N: Title and lyrics belong to Trey Songz and his song _Black Roses_. It's actually a song about a breakup, but I chose the lyrics that fit this story. Inuyasha and Trey Songz are not mine, though I wish they were ;)

This chapter was very difficult to write...I did tear up a bit. It will be sad at first, but I promise this story will not disappoint. Please continue to read Black Roses if you like it so far. Tell me what you think. :)

P.S.- I haven't abandoned Expecting the Unexpected, but this story was nagging at me. The song had my muse all worked up.


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